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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26855902">Variable</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fare17/pseuds/Fare17'>Fare17</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Humor, Cheerful tone tho, Multi, Seriously Everyone Is Super Sarcastic, Trauma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:47:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,528</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26855902</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fare17/pseuds/Fare17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A man lit a cigarette. The alley which he stood in was dark, connected to a bar where he’d stepped out for a smoke. Thunder rolled in the distance. People coming out of the subway were hustling to the nearest bar and club, loud and rowdy as they invested in their vices for the weekend. As the smoke curled heavenwards, the man in the alley lifted the cigarette to his lips, enjoying the feeling of calm that washed over him when the nicotine hit, a soft sigh breaking the silence of the alleyway. A tall looming man stepped out of the bar’s backroom and walked towards the smoker.<br/>
“What a filthy habit.” The taller man quipped. The other looked up. The taller man wasn’t the kind of person anyone would want to meet in a dark alley, but the man wasn’t afraid. He saw the small smile tugging at the intimidating man’s lips. The smaller man blew smoke into the taller man’s face, a smile curling around his lips as he tapped the cigarette, ashes fluttering down to the ground at their feet.<br/>
“... You’re lucky that I like you.” The taller man huffed, fighting a smile as he turned away from the shorter man. He took a drink from a brown beer bottle. The smoker raised an eyebrow as he took another drag of the cigarette.<br/>
“What a filthy habit.” The smoker responded, the smile infiltrated his voice, taking any bite out of the statement. The drinker rolled his eyes as he took another swig of the beer.<br/>
“Cam’s already evacuated everyone. There’s four in there… I think the one with the buzzcut is the one we’re here for, because he’s unarmed. Or, I dunno, maybe he’s a Bruce Lee or something.” The intimidating man’s voice retained its familiarity despite the briefing. “The other three have weapons… No guns though. We got lucky… Remember London?” The smoker felt a shudder run down his spine as he shook his head.<br/>
“Never again. Too many guns.” He said, dropping the cigarette butt and grinding it underneath his foot. He pulled out a revolver from where it’d been concealed, tucked into his belt with the safety on. He flicked the safety off and began loading green ammo into it. “At least I get to test out my new paralyzer serum.” The smoker grinned like a mad man as he spun the loaded cylinder around absentmindedly.<br/>
The drinker made a face of disgust as he saw the bullets. “Packed a punch, I gotta tell you.” He put the beer bottle down at the outside of the alleyway. He pulled out a small white piece of chalk and drew an X on the brick wall to mark where they were for their extraction. He quickly caught up to the gunman, stretching out his arms as he did so.<br/>
“Alright. You want to go in on three?” The smoker asked, his head tilted up so he grinned at the brawler. The eyes of the man were already beginning to take on an eerie blue glow as he stretched out his neck and shoulders. There was a nod from the brawler of the two.<br/>
“Un… deux… trois!” And then the berserker kicked the door down with a loud bang, and the two rushed into the building.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Secretary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eliza walked out of the cafe with four coffee cups and the cute barista’s number. It was her first day at her new job.  Considering what happened to the last four secretaries that had been subbed in, it was probably smart to get on everyone’s good side off the bat.<br/>
The secretary was to work for a group. They were specialized to deal with powered people that were… less than lawful. Because of their occupation, there was a lot of stuff that was known about them through the United States Department of Gods (USDOG for short). Whispered rumors about monsters that would be sent after someone if they didn’t get their identification. People being torn from limb to limb or suddenly dropping dead out of the blue. Or something along those lines. Regardless of the rumors’ validity, it did make the idea of working with them nerve wracking<br/>
In any case, she woke up an extra hour early and made her way down to the best coffee shop she knew. The barista there had been new and cute. Probably jailbait, if she was being perfectly honest. He had a perpetual smile and looked rather like the sun, his cap barely even beginning to contain a mess of brown curls. A strong jawline was highlighted by neatly trimmed scruff, and bright blue eyes. The type of blue that people seemed to covet so much, a sea blue. His height, which probably would’ve been a detriment to anybody else, seemed to work in his favor for someone on the shorter side. He was both mischievous and radiant. And, even though she’d gotten there early, there were already quite a few girls that he’d been flirting with as he made coffee. But, she was the one whose number he’d written on her coffee cup with a little “Call me! - C” and a little heart. It brightened her day, even if she probably wasn’t going to call the guy. Eliza walked into the elevator to her new job, with a boost in her self-confidence.<br/>
As the doors opened, Eliza was greeted with the sight of… well. First of all, their hair was black, though there was some turquoise blue peeking out from underneath the dark hair. And they had hazel eyes. And a small smile. A soft face, and rather thin.<br/>
“Hi, I’m Cam. They/Them. Shapeshifter- Oh! You brought coffee. Charlie’s gonna love you. And Auggie. I’m going to show you around, got it?” Cam smiled and extended a hand to Eliza who happily shook their hand. They had a charming French accent to their words.<br/>
“Nice to meet you. I’m Eliza…. She/her. Intellectual. And uh… here.” She handed the shapeshifter a coffee. Cam gave her a smile and continued along.<br/>
“Down there’s where we all live, it’s not required, of course, but it’s recommended. Oh, you wanna see the research center? Charlie had to step out to run an errand for Andy, but he usually lets me in his lab. He’s our lead engineer. He’s a nerd- don’t call him that.” Cam suddenly said as they spun to stare at Eliza.<br/>
“Don’t call the nerd a nerd. Got it.” Eliza said with a nod before she could stop herself from speaking. Cam’s smile only got bigger.<br/>
“I like you already. Come on, we’ll save that for last. We’ll go to the training hub.” Cam said brightly as they continued leading the new person along. Eventually, they got to a large room.<br/>
There was a ring in the middle for wrestling. Along the sides were large weights and punching bags of varying quality. There were also some rings dangling from the ceiling, and a couple of trapeze bars. There was a rope.<br/>
There was a man climbing up the rope with ease. He was shirtless, glistening with sweat. He seemed to have earbuds in as he climbed, his sculpted muscles showing a careful control and precision as he continued to climb. Even from this far away, she could tell that he was littered with scars, which cut through his chest hair. But, the muscles continued to flex as dropped down halfway, only to begin climbing back up once more.<br/>
Cam gave a loud sharp whistle, which shocked Eliza out of her ogling as the man dropped down to the ground. He was a lot taller than he seemed at first, standing at least a foot above the secretary. His barely shoulder length hair remained mostly in his eyes, but Eliza could see an intense icy blue stare from behind the curtain. Her heart started beating in her ears as she made eye contact.<br/>
“Auggie. This is Eliza. She’s our new secretary.” Cam said with a bright grin. “Eliza, meet Auguste. He’s our physical.”<br/>
Eliza held out a hand for him to shake. “Auggie” gave it a look, and then simply said “Greetings.” He had a deep melodious voice and some sort of European accent. He pushed his hair out of his eyes. He had a narrow face, excellent cheekbones, with a scar across his lips that cut through a scruff that looked rather untrimmed. There were two other scars to even his face out that made an X in his eyebrow. There was also a white patch in the dark brown hair. He looked harsh and cold. And he didn’t shake her hand. Nor did he remove his earbuds. He just looked down at the coffee, his hand hovering over one of them. He looked back up at her face, the question twitching in his lips. She nodded in affirmation, and he quickly took the coffee cup. There was a muttered “thank you” and he immediately beelined to where his shirt was and made a hasty leave, shirt and coffee in hand. Eliza watched with an open mouth.<br/>
“... He’s not really a talker.” Cam said dryly after Auguste left. “He’s an absolute sweetheart, though, when you get to know him. And yes, this reaction that you’re having is usually how people react to him… Shock and arousal.” Eliza blushed at the comment as Cam continued on their little tour.<br/>
“Guess all we have left is the research center. This is the fun stuff. Mind you, Charlie’s rather all over the place on the best of days but when he focuses he’s really rather brilliant.” Cam said as they opened up the doors to a lab. It was surprisingly clean and neat. Everything was categorized and in order. There were projects scattered about, but everything looked like it had a reason to be there. And in the middle, running between four to five different tasks, was the barista from the coffee shop.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Boss</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He was as radiant as he was in the coffee shop. However, he seemed to be far more energetic than before. He was also talking in rapidfire French. Cam finally managed to get across to the engineer by shouting over him, to which the guy finally looked up. <br/>	“Oh! Salut, ah, my English is not good. Apologies… Did you get my number?” Charlie grinned at Eliza. He had this sunshine mischief to him that was incredibly persuasive despite his thick accent. <br/>	“Yeah. Thanks” Eliza said, her voice came out softer than she meant. She had the sudden realization that his eyes were mismatched. One seemed to have yellow rays extending from the center in his right eye. He offered her a hand to shake, and when she reciprocated, he gave it a tiny little kiss with a mischievous wink. <br/>	“Oh! You brought us coffee? Can I have one?” Charlie asked with a small little laugh. His hand hovered over one of the coffee cups. <br/>	“Sure!” She smiled as he plucked the second to last one from the holder.The engineer smiled and then turned to Cam, speaking in French as he went. Cam gestured for Eliza to follow as they walked down the hallways. Charlie had this unbridled energy to him. He was constantly moving as he spoke, whether he was running ahead to walk backwards and explain or if he was using his hands to gesture while speaking. This constant movement was rather endearing, it made his more boyish qualities stick out, like a cute puppy. Eventually, Cam led them into an office that just read “AR Office.”<br/>	The three filed in. Something about the man sitting at the desk instantly unnerved Eliza. His eyes looked… strange. One was brown with a bright blue section, the other was green with a blue ring in it. But more than that, his skin tone was ambiguous, his hair color was fifty different variations of blond and brown and red. But more than that, he looked young. Old, but young. Like a teenager, except there was something about him that spoke of someone older. <br/>	“Hey. I’m Andrew Romano. Intellectual. I’m the one in charge.” The boss smiled as he extended a hand towards Eliza. Something about the fingers and the arm ratio seemed wrong. His accent seemed slippery. He seemed to dip in and out of varying American and British Isles accents. <br/>	“I’m Eliza. Summers. Intellectual as well. I got brought in for paperwork.” She said, handing Romano her paperwork. <br/>	“Right... Mr Chapeliére.” Andrew turned to Charlie, speaking to him in French as he looked through her papers. He handed the short man a one inch binder full of tabs and papers. “Mx. Dubois. Go get Mr Cortés.” He said with a dismissive wave of his hand towards Cam. They shrugged and waved a goodbye to Eliza before leaving. <br/>	“Ms Summers… I’m going to need you to read over these files. It’s a briefing of the people you’ll be working with. I’m sure the people in your group would be happy to do a few icebreakers with you if you wanted.” Andrew said with a small little grin to Charlie who shrugged. He dropped five different files in front of her<br/>	“I’m going to go outside for a smoke. Merci beaucoup.” Charlie gave them a little smile and took the binder with him as he left.<br/>	“Why was he my barista?” Eliza blurted out once the sunshine man left the room. <br/>	“Our last secretary got ambushed while walking from her apartment.” Andrew said with a shrug. “It was for your own protection.” He paused. “Even though it was a bit of an invasion of privacy. Sorry.” <br/>	Eliza made a decision that even though the gesture was rather creepy, she was glad that she didn’t get jumped on her first day by some crazy unidentified magic user. She began looking through the files. <br/>Auguste Cortés, Charles Chapelière, Cam Dubois, and Damon Bryarliet. She smiled as she looked through the names. Auguste seemed at least to be nice, if not a little bit awkward. And Eliza wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie could charm his way into any group. Though, she did feel a lot of relief that Cam was going to be one of the people she was going to be working close with. It did come with realization, however, that Cam might have been just acting so friendly because they knew ahead of time that the two of them would be working very close. <br/>Andrew smiled, it dragged Eliza’s eyes from the files towards him. He sat back behind his desk, another small binder being dropped in front of her.<br/>“You are allowed to leave now, Ms Summers, if you have no other questions.” He said, though not unkindly as he gestured for her to leave his office. Eliza stood, but faltered. She smiled at her new boss. <br/>	“Sir. What are the forms I need to fill out to begin living here.” She said. Andrew returned her smile and handed her a packet. <br/>“Here you go, miss. Welcome to the US Department of Gods.” Andrew said, shaking her hand. Eliza left, feeling unsettled with her boss, but a new bolster to her confidence.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading my prologue</p></blockquote></div></div>
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